Death from Above 1979
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Death From Above 1979 | ||
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 Jesse F. Keeler & Sebastien Grainger
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| Background information | ||
| Origin | Toronto, Ontario Canada  |
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| Genre(s) | Indie rock Synth rock Dance punk |
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| Years active | 2002 - 2006 | |
| Label(s) | Ache Records Sound Virus Records Last Gang Records Vice Records 679 Recordings |
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| Associated acts |
MSTRKRFT Femme Fatale Black Cat #13 Sebastien Grainger |
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| Website | Official Site | |
| Members | ||
| Jesse F. Keeler Sebastien Grainger |
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Death from Above 1979 were a Toronto based Canadian indie rock/synth rock duo. The members were Jesse F. Keeler on bass/synths and Sebastien Grainger on vocals/drums. Refusing to employ a lead guitarist, they played loud synth-infused dance-noise on the drum and bass combination alone, described by critic A. Carlill (Mojo Magazine) as 'glam noise'. This drew comparisons to Lightning Bolt, although DFA's sound bears little resemblance to them. They were signed to Last Gang Records in Canada, Vice Records in the U.S. and 679 Recordings in the UK.
Although they reportedly met at a Sonic Youth concert, Keeler and Grainger sometimes jokingly claimed to have met in prison, on a pirate ship, or in a gay bar, leading some journalists and fans to believe these hoaxes. They also claimed to have lived in a funeral home at one time. In 2005, the video for "Romantic Rights" won a VideoFACT award at the MuchMusic Video Awards. They played "Romantic Rights" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, with Max Weinberg on drums for part of the performance.
On 3 August 2006 Keeler, via the band's official website, announced the duo's split.
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[edit] Name Change Controversy
The band was originally named simply "Death from Above", a name which appears on their first released recording, Heads Up . The duo changed their name after an unusually personal and acrimonious legal dispute with New York City dance music label Death from Above, with the members of DFA1979 denouncing LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy in messages on their website. Death from Above had been a working name of Murphy's prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The reason for the seemingly arbitrary date of 1979 comes from Sebastien Grainger's birth date. From Sebastien's perspective, this is what it stood for: "1979 is the year of my birth, 1979 is the year of Off the Wall, 1979 is the year of Pleasure Principle, 1979 is the last year of the last cool decade, 1979 is scratched into my arm, 1979 is scratched into my arm, 1979 is scratched into my fucking arm." He also stated in an interview given to MTV: "I was born that year, and it's never going to be wrong."[1]
Another possible explanation is that Francis Ford Coppolla's film Apocalypse Now, which featured a helicopter fleet named "Death from Above", was made in the year 1979. Thus resulting in Death from Above 1979.
[edit] Split
As of August 3, 2006 the band officially split. Jesse F. Keeler posted this (slightly dubious message) on the official Death from Above 1979 forum:
| “ | I know its been forever since I wrote anything on here. I'm sure by now most of you assume the band isn't happening anymore since there are no shows, no work on a new album, etc. well. I wanted to let you know that your assumptions are correct. We decided to stop doing the band... Actually we decided that almost a year ago. We finished off our scheduled tour dates because there were good people working for us who relied on us to make a living and buy Christmas presents and pay rent etc. We couldn't just cancel everything and leave them out to dry... Plus I think we wanted to see if we would reconsider after being out on the road. Our label was really hoping that we would change our minds, so they asked us to keep quiet about the decision for at first. Well, it's been quite a while now and we are still very sure the band won't happen again, so I guess it's time to say something.(...) | ” |
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—Jesse F. Keeler, [2] |
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[edit] Discography
Studio Albums:
EPs:
 (December 15, 2002) |
 (April 13, 2004) |
Singles:
 (November 4, 2004) |
 (June 13, 2005) |
[edit] Videography
- Romantic Rights
- Blood on Our Hands
- Black History Month
- Pull Out
- Sexy Results (MSTRKRFT Edition)
[edit] Other Bands/Projects
[edit] MSTRKRFT
MSTRKRFT, a net-hack pseudonym of derivative Mastercraft – an homage to Kraftwerk and a play on the popular Canadian Tire tool brand is Jesse F. Keeler's electronic band along with producer Al-P. MSTRKRFT is currently signed to Last Gang records, and works out of Toronto. Their debut album was released on July 18, 2006. Two of their remixes can be found on Death from Above's 2005 release Romance Bloody Romance.
[edit] Femme Fatale
Femme Fatale was a band that featured Jesse F. Keeler before Death from Above 1979. The name comes from a song by the band The Velvet Underground. An EP, titled From the Abundance of the Heart, the Mouth Speaks, is available off the DFA1979 merchandise website. It's considered a more hardcore sounding version of Death from Above, and also notes Sebastien playing drums on an early release titled Fire Baptism. Sebastien Grainger played drums for Femme Fatale in live shows, as well. Femme Fatale is not dead, Jesse F. Keeler is now working on new material for the album and has said he loves doing FF Records.
[edit] Black Cat #13
Black Cat #13 was a band that also featured Jesse F. Keeler, and was started in 1998, lasting until 2000, when the band split due to musical differences. The band released all vinyl releases which are very hard to find and are considered collector's items by DFA1979 fans. Unlike Femme Fatale, Sebastien had no role in Black Cat #13, though Al-P produced many of their releases.
[edit] Sebastien Grainger
Sebastien Grainger is currently making a solo album with his band, The Mountains. He also released a split 7" with Jewish Legend.
[edit] Video On Trial
Jesse F. Keeler has appeared as a juror on the Much Music show Video On Trial.
[edit] Bloc Party
Both Jesse F. Keeler and Sebastien Grainger preformed the song Luno (Bloc Party vs. Death From Above 1979) on Bloc Party's Silent Alarm Remixed album.
[edit] Samples
- "Romantic Rights" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- Sample of "Romantic Rights", from You're a Woman, I'm a Machine.
- "Dead Womb" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- Sample of "Dead Womb", from Heads Up.
- Problems playing the files? See media help.
[edit] External links
- Official website
- DFA1979.com - Extensive discography information
- Death from Above 1979 on MySpace
- Death from Above 1979 at Last.fm
- Death from Above 1979 at MusicBrainz
- Death from Above 1979 at Discogs
- Death from Above 1979 Fansite A fansite with MP3's, information, and pics
- Romantic Rights music video
- D.F.A 1979 Site Francophone French fansite
- Death from Above 1979 at Helium
- "What Lies Beneath: The Stories Below Death from Above" CBC Radio 3 Session
